Among the five brazilian fighters who will take part in Pride Middle Weight GP, Mauricio ‘Shogun’ is probably the least experienced. For sure, he has the toughest opponent in Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson. ‘It?s going to be the fight of my life, and I am very well trained for this challenge. The fans can expect a great fight’ said the Chute Boxe fighter recently, after the last training session before the long trip to Japan. Obviously, for the hardest fight of his career, ‘Shogun’ counted on the help of his brother ‘Ninja’ and Wanderlei Silva, who have already faced Jackson.’Shogun will be the great surprise of this tournament. I?m training with him everyday and He is an excellent shape. I belive He will knock Jackson out’ guaranteed the PRIDE champion, Wanderlei Silva. About the participation of other brazilians, Shogun has good feelings for this first phase. ‘I belive all brazilians will win their fights. Pethaps Belfort will have some problems beating Overeem, but I think he will end up winning as well’. Asked to choose a favourite to win the GP, Shogun has no doubt: ‘All the 16 fighters are at the top of the game. This is probably the best tournament ever, but I don?t believe anyone in there can beat Wanderlei. He is the best and for me nobody out there can beat him; guaranteed the Chute Boxe ‘Rising Star’. After training last Friday at Chute Boxe headquarters, Shogun and his brother Murilo Ninja were invited to make a special speech to the most important soccer team in Parana, Curitiba Futebol Club. ‘Vale-Tudo is very popular here and usually the soccer clubs invite us to encourage soccer players’ explains Mauricio. Shogun, Murilo Ninja, Wanderlei Silva, Rudimar Fedrigo, Cristiano Marcelo and Rafael Cordeiro lrft for Japan on monday night, arriving in Tokyo wednesday morning.
